Bubala, Mumi & Max

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

365 More Days Til Halloween... Silver Shamrock

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween! Here are some of the photographic highlights from our Halloween.

Enjoy!

Happy Little Ghost
The Happy Little Ghost

Father Bubala & Lucifer Mumi
Father Bubala & Mumi Lucifer

We're saved!
We finally Found Jesus! He was at the Tori Amos concert all along...

Little Devil
What a great evil grin...

Donna The Dead
No, that's not Tori Amos. It's Donna The Dead!

Smile!
Smile pretty for the camera!

Devil
I think that Mumi might be enjoying the whole Devil thing a bit too much...

Harvesting Souls
See? I told you so!

F@#* Jesus!
Not if Mumi Lucifer have anything to do with it!

Hot Little Devil!
I have no idea how I talked him into letting me take this pic...
But, I'm glad I did! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go touch myself...

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

It's Okay To Love Tori Amos Bubala! She Is A Goddess

Tori!

Friday night, we went to see Tori Amos perform at Constitution Hall in DC. I have had a long standing love of Tori since Little Earthquakes in 1992. Since then, I've managed to catch her at least twice on every tour around DC or Baltimore. Like with most of my musical heroes, once I met Bubala, he ended coming along for the ride. I'm not as fanatical about Tori as with some of the others that I follow, but I'm still dedicated. I know that she has her hardcore fans that go to all of the shows and she also has a VERY GAY audience. Most of them are women, but there are still lots of us gay guys too. We all know that Tori was sent here from other spiritual worlds to make us all cry our fucking hearts out. Luckily it's dark at concerts.

Now, I was fine with just seeing her once on this tour. It has been a BIG concert year with 4 Blackfield, 7 Porcupine Tree and 7 Rush shows under our belt. After the Tori show was over, I was looking at the list of other shows she had played and looking at the set lists from those shows when Bubala walked in and said, if she is playing different songs at other shows, then "Why didn't we go to more shows?" I mentioned the above, but almost instantly, he had seized the computer from me and was searching to see what other shows we could go to. The only close one that we could do was in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, October 30th. So, after a quick search for tickets, we scored a pair about 20 rows back in the center which is fine because most folks sit at Tori shows.

Isabel

We did a little more searching and found out that the show we just bought tickets for is actually a Halloween show and that Tori and the crew want everyone to dress up. Hmmmmm... the thought of 3,000 Tori fans dressed up like little fairies flashed before our eyes. I thought, "Oh how cute!" and what a special show it would be where she could bring out some scary songs. So, with that in mind, I started thinking of scary Tori songs... Digital Ghost, Blood Roses, Rattlesnakes, Happy Phantom... and then it hit me! Father Lucifer! So, I decided to be Father Lucifer and wear a devil costume. Perfect.

Now, with me taken care of, what about Bubala? If you know much about Tori, you'd know that she is a minister's daughter so there are a whole lot of Christian themes in her music. So, Bubala saw a priest outfit and I thought, "That's perfect! The devil and the priest!" We could even walk around holding hands. Maybe we could even get a bible and paste a bunch of pictures of Tori on the pages like the one where a pig is suckling her breast. And I can also get Father Bubala to play with my tail in public.

At any rate, Bubala pulled a fast one on me with regards to Tori Amos once more. I think he is really a closet Tori fan. It's okay to love Tori Amos, Bubala. She is a goddess after all. Here are some other Tori related fast ones that Bubala has pulled on me over the years.
  1. In 1996, he got me all kinds of Tori posters and flats from Tower records where we worked.
  2. In 1998, Tori was doing a small warm up gig with a full band. She did a small exclusive show at 9:30 Club. Tickets were real hard to get. Bubala made a phone call, and we were put on the guest list.
  3. In 2002, while already having tickets to a show, he bought me a another ticket that was a whole lot closer to the stage and surprised me with it that night.
  4. In 2005, Tori did an in-store Book and CD signing in Georgetown. On the day of the in-store, you had to go to the store when they opened at 10AM, buy the new Tori CD, get a wrist band, then come back and line up for the signing which was at 4pm. I had to work so, disappointedly, I just forgot about it. Then, I get a call from Bubala who went to Georgetown, got a wrist band and told me I had to leave work early to go meet Tori Amos. Then, he drove all the way back to DC again and we lined up and I met her. She signed my CD and my book, but no pictures were allowed. She gave me another new nickname. She called me "Sparkle Steve" because she said that I sparkled. She also gave me a big hug and Bubala got a big wave when I pointed him out to her as my husband.
  5. 2005 - See #3. Only this time, the ticket was 4th row center and during the encores I ran up right against the stage.
  6. 2007 - A Tori Amos Halloween costume party show on Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh of all places. I guess we'll stop by the Liberty diner and say hi to Debbie. Then, we'll run into Emmett and Michael at the show. (Yeah. I know that Queer As Folk was actually filmed in Canada. I'm pretending!) This has got to be just about the gayest thing we have ever done.
Don't I have the greatest husband ever?

Don't you wish that everyone could have one?

All In The Details

A little more about the movie on Sunday... a lot more about my mom...

Like Jimbo, I too completely expected to come out of the theatre angry, but I didn't. The movie was very well done with several real life stories about how the clash between Christianity and homosexuality affects real peoples' lives. For me, the movie was very uplifting. It made me realize again just how fortunate I am.

For you see, my mother is one of those Christian wingnuts. Though she is nowhere near as extreme as some of the nutjobs out there, she still has her faith, goes to her church and believes in her God. I guess that you could say that she is more of a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Christian though. She is not out there trying to convert anyone. Nor is she out there spewing hatred and/or intolerance.

Quite the opposite, actually.

She didn't cry when I told her that I was gay. She never tried to talk me out of it or make me change. She didn't think that it was only a phase I was going through and that eventually I would change and start liking tuna. In fact, other than worrying about my safety and worrying about me facing life of ridicule and intolerance, she never did or said anything at all negative about homosexuality.

I think I know that she is secretly thrilled to have a gay son. After I came out, one of the first things that she did was go to a local gay book store and buy some gay buttons to wear and rainbow bumper stickers for her car. Shortly after she put the bumper stickers on her car, someone keyed the word "fag" onto the door of her car. You'd think that would have upset her, right? Nope. Not at all. She left it there and said that since she was proud of the word, there was no need to cover it up as if she were ashamed of it.

She gets mad if I don't invite her to gay pride parades or to the State House to crusade for gay rights. When we do take her to those events, she is the first one to open her mouth and give anyone who opposes homosexuality or gay rights an earful. I remember one time in particular, she really let our Senator, James E. DeGrange, have it. We were at a meeting with the Senator asking him to vote against a statewide ban on same-sex marriages. The Senator started in with his banter about his beliefs, his Church, his blah, blah, blah.

Well, mom was going to have none of that. She interrupted him and started telling him about her beliefs. How she was a good Christian too, just like him. In fact, they even belonged to the same Church. She went on, however, to point out that she was intelligent enough and compassionate enough to be able to separate purely civil issues from religious ones. She suggested that a good Christian Senator should be smart enough to figure those things out too. Yo go mom!

She is really something. I am truly very lucky to have her as my mom.

I only wish that everyone else was as lucky as I am.

Oh yeah... Just a note to that toe-tapping, hottie at the urinal next to me after the movie. You know who you are. You're so lucky (or unlucky, I guess) that the bathroom was full. Otherwise, I certainly would have come around that partition and helped you to relieve yourself. You dirty, little monkey!

Monday, October 29, 2007

Blurb

Just a quickie today...

Everyone loves a quickie, right?

Went to see For The Bible Tells Me So last yesterday with a couple of real (as in they actually exist) bloggers. The movie was very good. I recommend that you see it and take your parents along if you can. Especially if your parents are the nutty, right wing religious types.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

High Rollers

Mumi and I went to Atlantic City this past Saturday. I bet you can't guess why we were there.

Let me give you a hint...

Porcupine Tree... Again?

That's right! Another Porcupine Tree concert. My 29th and Mumi's 30th show.

* Yawn! *

I guess it was probably pretty easy to guess, huh? You could have said any one of three things and probably been right. We were either at a Porcupine Tree concert, a Rush concert or on a roller coaster.

I guess we're pretty boring and predictable, huh?

I bet you didn't predict this though...

Whoopee!

That's right. It's a chocolate whoopee pie. I ate it, and it was delicious!

Probably didn't predict this either, did you...

Happy Puppy

It's Max wearing a t-shirt and smiling for the camera.

I'm just full of surprises today, ain't I?

Hopefully, we'll do somone something fresh and exciting really soon, and I'll actually have something interesting to write about.

Until then...

Batman, Mumi and Robin

(Bet you didn't see that one coming either... Did you?)

Thursday, October 18, 2007

This Must Be My Lucky Day

Playboy

So, how did I end up on this mailing list?

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Pope John Paul II Was A Big Ol' Flaming 'Mo

Flamer...

Okay, now tell me something that I didn't already know...

Funny how many people around the world see this as a miracle. A blessing from beyond the grave. If I was a dead Pope, I certainly wouldn't choose to manifest my spirit in the flames of a bonfire. Hello?!? Hell, fire, flames, eternal damnation, Satan? Anyone else see the irony here?

Maybe this flame is not a blessing at all. Maybe it is merely a warning to all of his rabid followers. "Some day, you too will burn in Hell for all eternity. Just like me."

America's Most Stupidest Bubala

Okay.

I admit it.

I have been watching America's Most Smartest Model on VH-1. I usually don't subject my brain to such inane foolishness, but for some reason (or possibly two reasons), I just can't stop watching this total waste of television bandwidth.

Here is one reason...

Andre Birleanu

His name is Andre Birleanu. He is from Moscow. He has a smoking hot (even if it is mostly hairless) body. He has a bad-ass attitude. He is my new television boyfriend.

Here is reason number two...

Jeff Pickel

His name is Jeff Pickel. He is from Chicago. He is very cute. He has great facial scruffiness. Did I mention that his name was Jeff Pickel? He is my new television boyfriend when Andre is not around.

In other news...

Well, there really isn't too much other news... Nothing too thrilling has been happening in my world lately.

We spent the past weekend traveling to Northern Virgina and to New York City for a couple of Porcupine Tree concerts. Now, I have seen Porcupine Tree 28 times in my life so far. That's about 28 more times than I have wanted to see them...

(Just kidding Mumi! I love Porcupine Tree. Really... I do... Just about as much as you love all of those roller coasters and amusement parks...)

I certainly wish that there was something more exciting happening for me to buzz about, but sadly, this is about it. I really need to start doing more exciting things. Or, I could always just start making up exciting things to happen to me.

Nah. That's been done already...

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Famous!

Circle Of Friends

Have you seen Bob's new DVD yet? We got ours in the mail yesterday! Not only is Mumi featured prominently on the front cover (lower left corner), but you can also see both of us in the audience several times throughout the DVD. We're in the front row near the center of the stage.

We're really famous now!

We will both be available to sign copies of the DVD at Bob's performance in Philadelphia at the World Cafe Live on November 11th.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Titty Sprinkles

Titty Sprinkles!

What's been going on in my world latelty...

We went to another bear party this past weekend. It was actually a pool party... in October... and it was hot enough to actually get in the pool. That's pretty crazy! The bears were sweet and friendly, and most of them were pretty hot! Sadly, though, I am still not a bear. I am still only an otter.

Mumi managed to turn quite a few heads at the party in his skimpy little bathing suit. That made me feel really good since I knew at the end of the night, that he would be going home with me. Sadly, we couldn't stay at the party all night, since I had to go to work. Hopefully, next year, someone who is a cub and who lives in Bowie will give me a little more advance notice about upcoming bear parties, so that I can be sure to take off work on those nights. I'm sure you all know just how frisky those horny bears can get after sundown, but we missed all that fun!

We joined that gay porn version of Netflix called NYMMedia that DBud blogged about last week. We have already received, watched, copied and returned two movies. Arabesque and Tailpipes. I can really see us getting a lot of use out of this service, since we have no decent gay porn shops at all anywhere close to us. I already have a few more titles in my queue just waiting to be delivered to my horny little hands.

Somewhere along the way, over this past weekend, I picked up a cold. Usually, colds don't stick around too long with me. I'm hoping that will be the case with this one also. I probably only got sick because I worked so damn much this weekend. It was certainly one of those weekends from hell, workwise that is.

Well, that's about as exciting as my world gets at the moment. Now, how about you? What's been happening in your little slice of life lately?

Monday, October 08, 2007

In The Shade of the Porcupine Tree

Porcupine Tree

The Bald Monkey: Well, are you keeping yourself busy now that all of the concerts and amusement parks are over?
Mumi: Ah! But, they are not quite over. We are just switching gears a bit.
The Bald Monkey: More Rush concerts and roller coasters?
Mumi: Not quite. It's the Halloween season, so all the goblins and ghouls are out for a fright fest. I think we'll be going on some haunted hayrides or wandering through some corn field mazes or going through some scary haunted houses. Want to come along?
The Bald Monkey: No way! Not me! That kind of stuff scares me, and then I stay up late at night thinking about it.
Mumi: Oh, and of course, over the next two weekends we will be rocking out in the shadow of the Porcupine Tree.
The Bald Monkey: Now, that sounds like more my thing. Where and when are the shows?
Mumi: This Friday October 12th over in Arlington at the State Theater. Then, Saturday October 13th up in New York City at the Beacon Theatre. Then, the following Saturday October 20th in Atlantic City for my 30th P-Tree show at the Trump Marina.
The Bald Monkey: Awesome! I must go to all three.
Mumi: Yeah. I guess you can tag along.
The Bald Monkey: You usually do more P-Tree shows, don't you?
Mumi: Yeah, but we did four last spring and after all the Rush shows we, decided to only go to three P-Tree shows that are all close enough to drive home from the same night.
The Bald Monkey: So, are they still touring for the Fear Of A Blank Planet album?
Mumi: Kind of, but they have a new EP out called Nil Recurring. It's four songs that runs about 30 minutes. It's kind of a companion piece to the Fear album. They released it on their own label and only printed 5,000 copies. 3,000 to sell online and 2,000 to sell on the road. The 3,000 copies sold out in six days, so they pressed some more, and now there should be enough for everyone.
The Bald Monkey: So, they will still be playing "Anesthetize" in addition to the new EP?
Mumi: I hope so. It's funny that you mention that song.
The Bald Monkey: Why is that?
Mumi: That's the one that is played during the intermission at the Rush shows, because Lerxst plays on it. It runs about 17 minutes long, so it fits well for a 20 minute break.
The Bald Monkey: Fascinating!
Mumi: Ha ha ha ha! Bubala and I go to this really cool diner close to our house called the Honeybee. We always go there, and if you come visit us, we go eat there because it's very gay friendly for Glen Burnie and we have become friends with the owner. Well, they recently remodeled and put in one of those Internet jukeboxes. So, while we were waiting for a booth on one Sunday morning, we noticed that Porcupine Tree was on the jukebox so Bubala suggested that I play "Anesthetize." It took a whole dollar to play, but it started playing and whereas most songs are over in about 5 minutes or less, this one just keeps going and going. Like I said before, the song is 17 minutes long. It makes all the rounds from hypnotic rock with lyrics about prescription drug abuse to acrobatic death metal with lyrics suggesting that we have become consumer culture zombies to a somewhat ambient moody ending reflecting loss.
The Bald Monkey: So, what was the Honeybee's reaction?
Mumi: Well, I don't think many people heard it that first time. It was a crowded Sunday breakfast rush crowd.
The Bald Monkey: First time? You mean you played it again?
Mumi: Yeah. We've played it quite a few times now. There was one time when this gay couple was in there with us, and they had played "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" and then " Gypsy Tramps & Thieves." Then, all of a sudden, "Anesthetize" came on and it's playing... and it keeps playing, and we are all eating our food. It gets to the point where in the song where it is really rocking thunderously and one of the other gay guys who is obviously waiting for his other songs to play while he is eating asks the waitress, "Who is this playing?" She looks at the jukebox and comes back and replies, in a thick southern Baltimore accident, "It says Porcupine Tree or something‘ like that." The gay guy goes, "Hmmm... Interesting." You could tell that he was hating it big time and he wanted it to end then and now. And all the while, it's playing "Only apathy, from the pills in me. It's all in me, it's all in you. Only M-TV and cod philosophy. It's all in me and all in you." Bubala and I just kept eating like we were listening to the best dinner music ever. And trying really hard not to bust out laughing...
The Bald Monkey: So, you really have been following P-Tree for some time, huh?
Mumi: Yes. Their "Sky Moves Sideways" CD was the first thing Bubala ever gave me back when he was my manager at Tower Records in 1995. It was a free promo copy, and he told me that it was very good. which means that he probably never even listened to it. Now, he has been forced to listen to it and many other P-Tree CD's like it thousands of times. And, he is forced to go on wild and crazy journeys following the Porcupine Tree all around. He's met and hung out with the band. On the last tour, they even made him a roadie for a night. So, who knows what exciting thing are going top happen on this round of dates. I'm sure that we'll see lots of our other P-Tree road friends and maybe even make some new ones and add a few more dates to the ever growing list...

Wheaton, MD -Phantasmagoria - 5/26/99
Bethlehem, PA - Zoellner Arts Center (Nearfest) - 6-23-01
Philadelphia, PA Relapse Records (In store performance) - 6/25/01
Philadelphia, PA –TLA 6/25/01
Philadelphia, PA –TLA - 7-26-02
Baltimore, MD -Thunder Dome - 7-27-02
Baltimore, MD –Fletcher's - 11-7-02
Washington DC - 9:30 Club - 7-21-03
Washington DC - 9:30 Club - 5-13-05:
Asbury Park, NJ - Stone Pony - 5-14-05shi
Boston, MA - Somerville Theater - 5-18-05n
NYC, NY - Irving Plaza - 5-20-05
Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero -5-21-05
Washington DC - 9:30 Club -9-26-05
Philadelphia, PA - Keswick Theater - 9-27-05
Providence, RI - Lupo's - 9-28-05
Boston, MA Virgin Mega Store (In store performance) 9-30-05
Boston, MA Berklee Theater- 9-30-05
NYC, NY Town Hall - 10-1-05
Chicago, Il -Park West - 10-11-05
Chicago, Il Park West - 10-12-05
Boston, MA Newbury Comics (In store performance) - 10-5-06
Boston, MA Berklee Performance Center - 10-5-06
NYC,NY Nokia Theatre - 10-6-06
Philadelphia, PA Keswick Theater - 10-7-06
Falls Church, VA - State Theatre - 10-8-06
NYC - Nokia Theater - 5-19-07
Baltimore, MD- Ram's Head Live - 5-22-07
Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory - 5-23-07
Boston, MA - The Roxy - 5-25-05
Falls Church, VA - 10-12-07
NYC - Beacon Theatre - 10-13-07
Atlantic City, NJ -Trump Marina - 10-20-07

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

But Seriously...

Maize Maze

This past Saturday, Mumi and I hung out with our great friends, Tim and Donn at their annual Hunky Gay Guy Party. Those guys must know every hot, gay man in the Middle-Atlantic area. At one point during the night, I almost literally had to swim though the sea of handsome, hairy-faced hunks just to move around and mingle at the party. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. In fact, I rather enjoyed squeezing my way through the maze of masculinity.

Hmmmmm... That just gave me an idea. You know how they have those cornfield mazes every year around Halloween time? Well, how cool would it be if all of the hot, gay men got together and formed a Man Maze? We could all squeeze our way around through the Maze Of Men. We could even stick an ugly one in here and there just to make it a little scary. It is Halloween time, after all. Wow! That would be awesome! A hell of a lot better than traipsing around through some old, dead corn, huh?

But, I digress... Back to the man party...

So, we had a swell time at the party hanging out with DBud and his Husband, Rob. If you haven't had the pleasure of hanging with DBud before, I highly recommend that you do. He is a wealth of useful information on many different and varied subjects. I learned a lot about porn and sex and sex toys. Oh yeah, and feet too...

Our friend Greg, The Bowie Cub, was there also. Of course, you know he was only there to collect more phone numbers for his fish bowl. He is so good at that. He makes me so jealous. He is just so friendly and can talk to anyone. I'm shy and grumpy, so I'm more the wallflower type. I guess I'm getting better at the whole social thing though. A few times during the party, strange men came up to me, and we chatted, and they touched me in inappropriate places. That's progress as far as I'm concerned!

Monday, October 01, 2007

Cheech & Chong's Next Blog

We had a blast at the bear party this weekend as you can plainly see in the following photo of us taken at the party:

Cheech & Chong